Jazz Review: The Nathan Clevenger Group's 'Observatory'

http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/tcrmag/2014/01/2014-01-31e-tcrmag.mp3

The Bay Area’s improvised music scene is made up of dozens of projects and bands drawing on a shared pool of talent, so it’s not unusual for musicians to play together in multiple ensembles. The Nathan Clevenger Group includes many of the scene’s leading figures, but he’s created a sound that stands out from the crowd.

Led by the Oakland guitarist/composer of the same name, the Nathan Clevenger Group has been around since 2003, although the band didn’t release its debut album, “The Evening Earth,” until 2010. On its new album, “Observatory,” there’s the sense the ensemble has grown into Clevenger’s music, figuring out details that are all the more tricky for unfurling at an unhurried pace, like the playfully episodic “Dia de los Monos.”

Nine of the album’s 10 tracks feature a sextet, and the core of the group is built around Clevenger’s cool-toned guitar, the texture-minded drummer Jon Arkin, bassist Sam Bevan and alto saxophonist Kasey Knudsen, a player whose presence is always a reliable sign that something interesting is going on.

Drawing on orchestral jazz concepts pioneered by Duke Ellington, Sun Ra and Gil Evans, he revels in coaxing a kaleidoscopic array of voicings from the band, writing extended dreamscapes that unfold with their own quirky internal logic. On the atmospheric ballad “Monsoon,” the slowly building intensity leads up to a long keening solo by Knudsen, but the storm always stays far offshore.

Much like Harry Carney’s supple baritone saxophone anchored and defined the sound of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Clevenger is clearly inspired by reedy lower registers. Almost every track features either Aaron Novik or Cory Wright on bass clarinet, and the contrast between their woody rumblings and the guitar, alto sax and flute provides a good deal of drama. On the jaunty “Slipshod Caffeine,” the band sounds like Sun Ra riding a particularly pleasant space wave.

Over the past decade, Clevenger has intersected with some of the Bay Area’s most creative musicians, including saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, trumpeter Darren Johnston and clarinetist Aaron Novik (he performed and recorded as part of Novik’s extended work “The Samuel Suite,” which was released on the Evander label in 2008). Like them, he draws on a pool of players who can be found working together in various combinations, like Cory Wright’s excellent new album “Apples + Oranges” (Singlespeed Music), a quintet session that also features saxophonist/flutist Evan Francis and was also recorded by Eli Crews and mastered by Myles Boisen.

Part of what makes Clevenger’s music so much fun is that he’s found a sweet spot between imposing his ideas as an arranger and opening up his material to his cast of vivid improvisers. He employs a similarly deft touch as a player. Throughout the album, Clevenger doesn’t take more than a handful of solos, but he is often guiding the ensemble with luscious chords and carefully placed lines. In many ways, the band itself is his instrument.

On “Observatory” he makes brilliant use of the many colors at his disposal, like on the sumptuous closer “O Syracuse,” an opulently appointed melody that cries out for a witty lyric.

More: About Nathan Clevenger (Official Website)